Pholus in the natal chart is indicative of issues relating to both Saturn and Neptune, i.e. feelings, emotions, sacrifice, dreams, chaos, all Neptunian stuff and the Saturnine influence of order, duty, restriction and control. In aspect to a natal planet Pholus could indicate something we’re not yet fully aware of, something that is waiting to manifest. Perhaps something from our past is restraining us, is keeping it under control. It may become a pressing issue that we blindly and impulsively act upon only to find it has disastrous results. On the other hand, it may lead us to achieve great things. Pholus also has a mediumistic quality, a connection to ‘the other world’ and the ability to get in touch with it.
Aspects from Pholus indicate matters (as identified by the aspected planets) from which the consciousness remains disconnected, although there is potential for such a connection being developed. Impulses governed by the aspected planets may therefore be blind, hasty and disastrous in outcome. But with regard to more intangible realms, Pholus confers a visionary and mediumistic capability.

A person with a prominent natal Pholus is in his actions guided by impulses whose motivation he is not really aware of. Actually, he is confronted with energies or parts of his nature that are not incarnated, i.e. that hang over or about him like a cloud (Neptune, the aphelion of Pholus) and urge towards incarnation (Saturn, Pholusґ perihelion) within the material world. In other words: Pholus stands for parts of our nature from which we are still cut off and with which we try to get into contact. The parts in question may be those which cannot be soundly unfolded, or on the other hand a domain where the person intently strives for and with time even reaches great progresses. A combination of Pholus and Mercury, for example, can indicate highest precision and almost magic power of a personґs mercurial abilities, or on the contrary legastheny and dyscalculia.

Pholic impulses are blind in a sense. They press on being realized even if they do not "know", what could be their appropriate place in the actual order of life. On the contrary, they are in conflict with the established conditions. The person in question may feel impelled to actions, motions or gestures that give rise to disastrous life situations. So, Pholus finds himself in a strain between self-destruction and enlargement of his own character by additional energies or horizons of experience. The pholic person walks on the narrow path of great and seemingly easy success, with the risk of catastrophic slips. Whatever happens, afterwarts the person is altered. He has broken with his past, has stripped off an old skin (Greek pholis means "squama" or "skin"), has got over a rocky edge and unexpectedly attained a wonderful tableland, or else is stumbled over it into a precipice.

Instead of blindness, Pholus sometimes gives visionary power. In the myth he is a haruspex, i.e. he reads from the entrails of offered animals. People with Pholus at the IC are often very inspired, sometimes spiritual channels or fortune-tellers or work with the pendulum. But in the myths, the seer is often blind. It is not easy to dream the future and, at the same time, actually realize the present circumstances. More details on the interpretation of Pholus can be found - for those who read German - in our book on Pholus.

It goes without saying that, besides the study of mythology, astronomy and the effects of Pholus in natal charts, his qualities in transits had to be investigated, too. A new planet must cause distinct experiences when transiting, for example, the natal sun or the ascendent. This is especially true if it belongs to the slow-moving ones and the transit lasts for several months or even years (in case of delay by one or several retrogradations).

Therefore we decided to place Pholus on this kind of probation, too: we collected detailed experience reports of volunteers for all important Pholus transits during their hitherto life. Thereby, we took into account conjunctions, squares and oppositions of transiting Pholus with respect to natal main axes, main planets, Chiron, Pholus himself and the lunar nodes, as well as passages through the Placidian houses. The maximal orb we used was 2°. We listed the periods of pholic influences in their varying lengths in form of a table beginning with the birth and ending at the present time and presented them to the participants. To avoid the danger of influencing them, we gave no hints on the kind of transit or the factors involved. So they groped in the dark, as it were. Only after they had returned us their written experience reports, we commented on their respective transit theme in a personal talk and searched after deeper meanings.

To our surprise, the most transits of Pholus in the lifes of our informants had been accompanied by subjectively important and impressing events and developments. The only exception seemed to be the transits of Pholus over the lunar nodes: people were seldom able to report something. But apart from that, in almost all cases, especially at conjunctions, the participants used to mention distinctly noticeable changes and developments, be it during a house passage or a planetary transit, though they did not know at all what transit was in question. Of course, we investigated whether there were other transits involved, but this turned out to be true only seldom.

While evaluating the reports we could with time sift out the following typical transit qualities of Pholus that used to show up in the lifes of the participants both in disagreeable and agreeable variations:

Pholus intensifies the natal factor affected by him in a way that we are impelled to unusual and often thoughtless actions in the domain in question. Frequently one feels a kind of "goaded on" and under a hardly sustainable permanent strain.
An underdeveloped facet of the affected part of our personality suddenly appears. On the one hand, this often gives us a spontaneous insight into our deficiencies in the domain concerned. On the other hand, it drives us even more towards a change.
The participants often felt a wish of riddance. The old and hitherto sheltering way of life becomes too "limited" and is stripped off without much effort and sometimes even "accidentally" (cf. pholis, squama". A skinning effect). Some persons characterized this process as an "awakening" of new energies, capabilities and insights, often accompanied by a strong enthusiasm.
Pholus seems to launch us again and again into unexpected frontier situations, where we feel demanded too much and eventually exceed the bounds of our possibilities. In these periods of transition from a suddenly lost security (Saturn) we find ourselves helplessly exposed to and confronted with the neu haziness (Neptune). In this situation we run great risk of calamitous misreactions (self-sabotage, accidents; cf. Pholus death in the myth). On the other hand, this "wobbly" state may give rise to a positive new beginning that leads into a richer and intenser life. In both cases there is a tendency, that the subconsciousness determines the "course".
After all we found that almost all Pholus transits mark more or less important turning-points in life. People often leave behind old things relatively fast and spontaneously, open themselves to unknown new things and therewith grow out of their old self. The way in which this happens with Pholus transits distinctly differs from those of the known planets, as sketched above. So, Pholus is indeed clearly perceptible in transits, and according to our experiences his astrological power is by all means equal to other main planetsґ transits. For instance, we recommend to look at the transition of Pholus over the rising or setting points. At those times there was an important turning-point in the lifes of most of the participants of our transit research, though nothing of such kind had been indicated by transits of other main planets. Experiences of similar importance were undergone at passage times of Pholus over MC and IC...

EXAMPLES
Here are the examples of Pholus 'activities', taken from Astropost.blogspot.com, without the chart drawings and focussing on Pholus only. You can see all these post, the charts and complete texts by using the label ' Pholus' or by searching this blog with the tool on the left.